Chapter 4 - THE ALLIANCE OF VENGEANCEThe sickening footage replayed in my mind like a nightmare I couldn't wake up from. Marjorie’s sweet, calm voice as she slipped poison into her own child's glass burned into my brain. She hadn't just stood by; she was the hand that held the vial.
"They killed him..." I sobbed, my body shaking violently as I collapsed onto a steel chair in the panic room. "His own mother... his father... they murdered him in cold blood!"
Eli hugged my neck tighter, his tiny frame shivering. "Mommy, don't cry. Is Daddy coming back?"
I wiped my eyes fiercely, taking a deep, shuddering breath. I looked at my son's innocent face, then at the bruised, red imprint of Marjorie's fingers on his cheek. Something inside me snapped. The grief that had consumed me for the last twelve hours burned away, replaced by an icy, blinding rage.
"No, sweetie," I whispered, brushing the hair from Eli's forehead. "Daddy isn't coming back. But Mommy is going to make sure the bad people pay for what they did."
I stood up and turned to Arthur Vance. "How long can that door hold?"
"A few hours against heavy explosives," Vance said, monitoring the security feeds on the bunker screen. "Victor's men are trying to blow the hinges, but they don't have heavy equipment here yet. We need to use the escape tunnel."
"Where does the tunnel lead?"
"To an abandoned drainage pipe half a mile off the property, near the old highway," Vance said, picking up his briefcase. "I have a safehouse set up in downtown Chicago. But Lena... running won't save you. Victor controls the police department, the local judges, and the board of Titan Global. The moment he realizes you survived tonight, he will frame you for Daniel's murder."
"Then we don't run," I said, my voice dripping with venom. "We fight."
"With what?" Vance asked realistically. "You're a former high school art teacher. I'm a corporate attorney. Victor Vale has a private mercenary army and four billion dollars."
"He doesn't have the video," I pointed at the computer terminal. "He doesn't have the proof that he faked his death, defrauded the government, and murdered his son. And he doesn't have this."
I reached into my inner jacket pocket and pulled out a small, silver key on a velvet ribbon—the key Daniel had given me on our fifth anniversary, telling me never to lose it, no matter what happened.
Vance’s eyes widened. "The Zurich vault key. Daniel told me he hid a secondary dossier there, but he never gave me the location."
"I know where it is," I said. "Daniel always said, 'Where we first met is where our future lies.' It's not in Switzerland. It's in a private safety deposit box at the First National Bank on 5th Street, where we had our first coffee date across the block."
Suddenly, the steel door of the panic room groaned under a violent shockwave. BOOM! Sparks flew from the upper frame, and smoke began pouring through the cracks.
"They're using thermal charges!" Vance yelled. "Move! Now!"
Vance pulled open a heavy iron grate in the floor, revealing a dark, laddered shaft leading down into the earth. I picked up Eli, strapping him tightly against my chest with a heavy canvas sling from the bunker's emergency kit.
"Go! I'll be right behind you!" Vance urged.
I climbed down into the damp, dark tunnel, descending into the pitch blackness. Above us, a massive explosion rocked the bunker. The steel door was breached.
"Search the room! Find the woman and the child!" Victor's voice echoed distantly down the shaft.
Vance climbed down quickly, slamming the iron grate shut from the inside and turning a heavy locking wheel to seal it. He pulled a pin from a small flashbang grenade and dropped it onto the top of the grate before scrambling down after us.
A second later, a blinding flash and a deafening roar echoed above us, followed by screaming mercenaries.
We sprinted through the muddy underground drainage pipe for ten agonizing minutes, guided only by the narrow beam of Vance’s flashlight. The air was foul and cold, but I didn't care. Every step I took away from that house was a step closer to burning Victor Vale's world to ashes.
Finally, we reached an iron ladder leading up to a rusted manhole cover. Vance pushed it open, revealing the cold night air of the lonely secondary highway.
Waiting in the shadows of the trees was a matte-black armored minivan.
The driver's side window rolled down. Sitting in the driver's seat was a woman with a sharp pixie cut, dark red lipstick, and a scar running along her jawline.
"You're late, Vance," she said in a sharp Russian accent.
"We had unexpected guests, Katya," Vance panted, pushing me and Eli into the back seat.
May you like
"Who is she?" I asked, pulling Eli into my lap as Vance slammed the van door shut.
"My name is Katya," the woman said, shifting the van into drive and slamming on the gas. "I used to be Head of Security for Vale Enterprises before Victor had me 'retired' three years ago. Your husband saved my life, Lena. Now, I'm going to help you destroy his family."
